Who are these people?You get an A+ – If you know them all, what sort of vital local issues they are discussing lately and the local elected body they are involved with
You get a C – If you know only a few and maybe a little something about the important local issues and the local elected body they are involved with
You get a D-/F (with a red circle) – If you cannot identify any of the people, have no clue what important local issues they are talking about, and no idea what important local elected body they are involved with . . . in which case you will need to retake the course on Local Government: Citizenship, Awareness & Responsibilities, and read the book, "The Water Masters, Who Can You Trust?"
48 comments:
OK. Think I know 5 of the 7 Hays Trinity Water District personages. How do I check up on myself?
I'll take a gander. It is the local parole board discussing parolee candidates.
Sure, they are discussing how to address DSWSC's $120,000 debt to the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District.
What the hell happened to Nesbitt? He looks like a Saint Bernard that fell asleep in the sun.
The magnificent one can read these peoples thoughts.
From the bottom
Perrin- I got a job.
Foster- That Greg Perrin is a good looking man.
Nesbitt- What time does Flores close again?
Key- I wonder what Golden Cheeked Warbler tastes like?
Phil Hauge- I'm making more than all of you in this room put together.
Bill Davis- Yada yada yada and so on for about 2 hours.
Skipton- I still can't believe they elected me.
Jerrigan- 5 months, 6 days and I'm outta here.
Pope- You know Perrin is a handsome man.
No, no...these are people worried about the UN taking over the local groundwater around here, well expect, of course for Ed Pope, the oNLY sane one in the bunch.
I got an A+, but why doesn't that make me feel any better?
Nesbitt looks like he is made outta Silly Putty. Brain to match.
Pope is wondering why he wanted this job in the first place.
Jernigan doesn't remember what she was thinking, but sure likes that nice young man who always says, "Yes ma'am" to her.
Skipton is just wishing he was smarter than his kid.
Key now knows what Golden-Cheeked Warbler tastes like and it was delicious.
Bill Davis is just so dashing in those suspenders as he drones on about how dangerous the idea of 'community' is, I can barely take my eyes off him.
Those Dripping Springs people who just got interested in what goes on with the HTGCD have just realized they are dealing with morons.
Water masters, HAH! I count at least 3 members of the Midnight Water Bandits, who are living high off the hog from water sales of the local water supplier in Dripping Springs. The rest are jokers and pawns. If there is any civics lesson to be learned from this bunch it would be The 10 Worst Ways to Run a Groundwater District and A Water Supply Co-op.
Nesbitt + Key + Whisenant + Conley + Powers + Jones + subverted enviro interests + ignorant masses = the Dream Team Water Schemers for Massive Development which also = a lot of skimming off the top - oh, and really bad air :)
Hunter S Thompson:"the scum also rises"
One of them has discredited her name and objectivity via her dalliance with the Dripping water supply corp. The Wimberley environmentalists will have a hard time splaining the Jernigan fiasco and their dalliance with Conley when they prop up their next candidate for the HTGCD board.
Jernigan is not supported by the Wimberley environmentalists. She took this on herself to run, knowing very little about what the HTGCD does and apparently nothing about ethics.
Jernigan has indeed embarrassed herself and is little more than a confused woman peddling as fast as she can. All you have to do with Dr. Jernigan to get her help and respect is be polite and say Yes, Ma'am. She is a sucker for a little ol' fashioned respect for your elders, a fact Mark Key and the rest of those no-nothings learned a long time ago.
Jernigan is a joke. Key and Nesbitt are bad jokes with worse ideologies. Skipton is a smart guy with bully complex who makes all his decisions based on how it will affect him personally, not exactly a "public servant". And Ed Pope is a very smart, very nice man who is surrounded by jokes and jokers.
Who's laughing now?
@Fiorello,
You said
Jernigan is not supported by the Wimberley environmentalists.
That's an asset as far as I'm concerned. The faux environmentalists of Wimberley are nothing but selfish, self-serving hypocrites. They expect handouts from the county and city while promoting the myth that no one but themselves has any right to live in the area. The "environmentalists" are nothing but deadbeat hypocrites. Hopefully a few of them will be poorer after their litigation with HTGCD.
Jernigan has indeed embarrassed herself ...
How do you figure that? You don't like the fact that she is educated and capable of thinking independently of the faux environmentalists?
If you are referring to the DSWSC debacle, it would appear that certain board members of the DSWSC engaged in an unauthorized and unsuccessful vote-buying attempt. Don't see how that reflects on Jernigan.
If you were aligned with the hypocritical environmentalists you likely lost someone that historically supported lower permit amounts. She recused herself to avoid the appearance of impropriety. You lose!
And Ed Pope is a very smart, very nice man...
Ed has made some very insightful observations and points and has demonstrated that he is NOT a parrot for that McMeans house of CARDs activist.
Once David Baker exited (he long overstayed his welcome on the HTGCD board), the "groupthink" cancer he promoted likewise disappeared.
McMeans has been unsuccessful at re-instilling groupthink through his lemming petition approach ("I found 200 morons to sign my petition based on lies I told them. Because I convinced a bunch of idiots to sign my petition then you should follow the will of my idiots instead of using your own judgment. Oh that part about signatures. Well I was a surrogate signer for them when they weren't present to sign my petition...."). All the board members have their own opinions, and vote accordingly and that's the way it should be.
Looks like DSWSC is gonna have to pay up after all.
Margarett Foster spent $1,205.72 on a hotel room at the Omni in Fort Worth and charged it to DSWSC.
Among Ms. Foster's room charges were a $181.15 meal that included a $105 bottle of wine.
She also spent $18.91 to have a bagel delivered to her room.
WOW, I'm so glad that she and Ron Kelly have cleaned up Dripping Springs Water.
Dripping Spring Water had a meeting on April 2, 2012 at 7:00PM
At 6:48PM on April 2 someone with a Dripping Springs Water Supply credit card closed out a tab at Creek Road Cafe for $223.00, that included a $70 bottle of wine.
Jernigan embarrassed herself by accepting money for a film project she is working on from an entity with business before the board of which she is an elected member.
Said "entity" did not just have business before the board, but was in the middle of negotiations over a large amount of money they likely owed to that same board.
Now, does this look like influence-peddling to you? Does to me.
Hey Law Dawg,
I call B.S., there is no way Ron Kelly would let that happen at Dripping Springs Water.
He was a DEA agent for almost 30 years and follows the rules.
Bob,
Why do you publish these baseless claims by folks like Law Dawg?
Never in a million years would Ron Kelly let this happen.
He cleaned up the Water Supply corp.
Ron Kelly and Margarett Foster are pillars of Dripping Springs.
Ron is the president of the most prestigious HOA in the area. Margerett has the most beautiful house and yard in Hays County.
These false claims of "reckless spending" and "vote buying" need to stop. Until there is actual proof of wrong doing, Ron and Margarett should be left alone.
Well, I hear the July 9th (7 pm) meeting of the Dripping Water Corp. will be very informative. I have heard that several board members are not going to stand for this BS.
I thought Steve Harris and Brewer were bad. This new board is the worst ever. If they think we are OK with paying for their drinking binges, they are wrong!
I guess the board of DSWSC is trying to save water by drinking up all the alcohol in Hays County
Buying expensive ($223.00) meals and drinks ($70 bottle of wine) for their auditor really puts Marge on the hot seat. How much have they spent for audits this year so far? Control the auditor and you can pretty much do as you wish.
I went to an A.A. meeting the other night and a Water Board meeting broke out. Waka Waka
hey anon @ 12:53
Yes, Margaret has a gorgeous yard. It's MANY acres of IRRIGATED grass! I guess she doesn't have to follow the water restrictions that DSWSC makes me follow. She waters everyday, and her grass is the only green patch in her neighborhood.
Ron is a good guy, but you should look at some of the mess his HOA is in. Just because its "prestigious" doesn't mean it is clean.
In that picture, Greg and Marge look like they shared a nice bottle of Chardonnay before the meeting. I wonder who paid for it.
Since when does having a nice yard mean anything about a person's ethics?
Green grass equals Godliness?
Good grief, people, if these DSWSC people really are wining and dining on the public tab, they need to be stopped and pay it all back. Immediately.
Exactly 7.2 months of Margarett Foster's expense account would pay the HTGCD bill in full. (according to the receipts I have seen).
New drinking game
Everytime Ron Kelly mentions the FBI-- take one shot
Take two shots---if Margarett talks about how much work she does for free for DSWSC.
If Shawn Connoly falls asleep--take 3 shots.
If that vein on Jon Cobb's head pops out-- 4 SHOTS
@Anonymous who said...
Dripping Spring Water had a meeting on April 2, 2012 at 7:00PM
At 6:48PM on April 2 someone with a Dripping Springs Water Supply credit card closed out a tab at Creek Road Cafe for $223.00, that included a $70 bottle of wine.
Wonder what they did before the May 7, 2012 meeting? Might explain the conduct of board members at that meeting.
Next DSWSC meeting is scheduled to start at the Barber Shop in Dripping Springs. There will then be a pub crawl to the DSWSC offices about 2 blocks away.
Well, last night's HTGCD meeting lowered my opinion of human nature several notches.
We are not in good hands.
@ C'est vrai who said...
Well, last night's HTGCD meeting lowered my opinion of human nature several notches.
Just now? You mean you haven't been keeping up with the antics of David Glenn and Jim McMeans? RoundUp readers may not be aware that Glenn and McMeans have been writing letters complaining that the HTGCD board doesn't do their bidding. The complaint letters have been sent to Commissioners Court and the HTGCD board.
Discussion and action on the letters was placed on the HTGCD agenda for 6/21/2012. McMeans and Glenn were no-shows but they sent proxies to complain even more. The proxies claimed it was improper to discuss the letters since McMeans and Glenn weren't present. You see McMeans and Glenn expect to control the meeting agendas as well as the outcome of the votes. These two old white fellas need to figure out that the world stopped revolving around them a long time ago.
These two individuals are also plaintiffs in a suit against the district. Their complaint, however, is not about the outcome of a permit decision. No, their complaint is that they did not get an opportunity to have a forum to complain, whine, and try to shakedown a permit applicant through a lengthy contested case process.
Almost a year ago, when three Driftwood subdivision water utilities applied for permit renewals, McMeans demanded a contested case hearing. McMeans lives at least 18 miles away from the closest of these and they are not "upstream" from him in any way relating to the aquifer or water flow.
The 5 board members, applicants, and support personnel had to attend a special meeting to determine McMeans' standing to have a contested case. McMeans was given an opportunity to establish his standing at the meeting. Instead of withdrawing his protest, McMeans maintained his protest and then was a no-show for the meeting.
Hopefully a judgment against McMeans and Glenn in the pending litigation will serve as a swat to these egotistical gnats. They are not in control...and they have no entitlement to groundwater belonging to others.
We are not in good hands.
Oh don't worry. You are not in Glenn or McMeans hands and that's really what they are complaining about.
Those two expect to be "running the show" and that elected officials are nothing but puppets with strings to be pulled by McMeans or Glenn. These guys just can't handle the reality that they are NOT in control and NOT entitled to micromanage either Commissioners Court or HTGCD. That's why McMeans and Glenn are trying to set up their own special groundwater management area in the Wimberley area. They seek the power to say "no" with impunity to other property owners in the area when it comes to wells. Their mission is of course doomed from the outset because it is direct conflict with the rights of the property owners and there is more water in the Wimberley area than anywhere else in the HTGCD territory. Instead of denying pumping TWDB would probably support taking groundwater and shipping it elsewhere.
It isn't Jim McMeans and David Glenn who I was talking about.
Hey, I would rather see McMeans and Glenn on the water board than those no-nothings like Nesbitt and Key!
McMeans used to be Director of Public Works for the City of Grand Prairie and Glenn is a geologist. These guys actually know what they are talking about, unlike most of the people on the water board.
Neither Key nor Nesbitt knows a damn thing about aquifers and thinks the UN is trying to take over Hays County. They both work digging utility lines and swimming pools and need more houses built so they can dig more holes to make a living. Talk about conflict of interest!
You kinda missed my point, Mr. Anonymous. The majority on the board, with Jimmy Skipton at the helm, this is who I was referring to when I said, "We are not in good hands."
Do they not realize we should not be encouraging people to move to the dry parts of the state? Their short-term thinking is going to ruin it for everyone.
@ C'est vrai who said...
You kinda missed my point, Mr. Anonymous. The majority on the board, with Jimmy Skipton at the helm, this is who I was referring to when I said, "We are not in good hands."
Define "majority on the board". The board consists of 5 members elected from different single member districts. They vote in various combinations all the time. Some motions fail, some pass. Those that pass do so on the vote of 3, 4, or 5 (unanimous) board vote. Feel free to define which board members you are referring to.
Since Jimmy was at the helm, the HTGCD board has been open. The funding for the HTGCD has continued. Jimmy has been able to allocate funding for Joan's and Mark's educational projects while managing the costs of litigation. Progress has been made with the permits for Aqua Tex and DSWSC. The HTGCD is being steered successfully through its first lawsuit (and is expected to collect 100% of its attorney fees). Permits from long pending applications either have been resolved or are being resolved, and it looks like Jimmy is going to compel DSWSC to pay over $50,000 to the HTGCD. He didn't do it all by himself but he certainly was a leader on all these positive outcomes. Feel free to compare and contrast his record with that of his predecessors.
Do they not realize we should not be encouraging people to move to the dry parts of the state? Their short-term thinking is going to ruin it for everyone.
Do you realize that this is America, not the People's Republic of Wimberley?*
No doubt your neighbor was saying the same thing about you when you moved to the area. Don't like it then move...and you'll be happy to know that despite the actual existence of people with your mental illness in other areas of the country, there's not one darn thing they can do to prevent you from moving into "their" part of the country. Your claims of "encouraging" are misplaced. The district only allocates groundwater among the property owners.
Although keeping with your mentality, if people are moving here they should all move to the Wimberley/San Marcos areas since those areas are probably "less dry" than much of the area surrounding it. The reality is that most people don't care much for Wimberley. It is a run-down city with failed infrastructure, a corrupt local government, insufficient jobs to support the natives, too far to commute for viable employment elsewhere, and a bunch of morons that think "attacking newcomers" (and local property owners) solves all their problems.
*David Glenn and James McMeans are attempting to form the People's Republic of Wimberley starting with a "special groundwater management area". Cries of "saving the environment" have been David Baker's primary source of income for the last 20 years. He eventually moved to Austin where he works to raise money to prevent others from moving there - and to pad his bank account. People woke up to David Baker's schemes and they'll realize what Glenn and McMeans are up to soon enough.
Mr. Anonymous,
Seems to me that Mr.McMeans and Mr. Glenn have sure got your goat.
You have a long list of people who are driving you crazy, though, from the tone of your posts, that is a very short drive.
Has it ever occurred to you that this long list of smart, thoughtful, highly-educated, concerned local citizens might be the ones you should be working WITH, rather than constantly railing AGAINST?
Your list is getting longer every day and your version of "the truth' here is wearing thin.
If your only concern is your own property, the self-centered, short-term goals of you and your nuclear family, then as they say, "Maybe you should get out more."
@ Tom Jenner who said...
Mr. Anonymous,
Seems to me that Mr.McMeans and Mr. Glenn have sure got your goat.
Nope. They can't have my goat, horse, car, house, or my groundwater... and we're going to keep it that way.
You have a long list of people who are driving you crazy, though, from the tone of your posts, that is a very short drive.
Well Wimberley is a short drive from Dripping Springs and the crazy folks are mostly living in Wimberley. I prefer to avoid the place and even take the Wimberley Bypass whenever possible. All the retired activists want is more money from the taxpayers.
Has it ever occurred to you that this long list of smart, thoughtful, highly-educated, concerned local citizens might be the ones you should be working WITH, rather than constantly railing AGAINST?
Which ones are the smart ones?
Actually the ones that think they are so smart are some of the worst. These elitists demand you give up your property and your rights to them under some faux pretext of "community". Just like a cult (kinda like WVWA). When you don't just give it to them, then they try to take it away by local government fiat or other legislation.
There is no working "with" any of these folks. They consistently promote mob appeal as final and determinative of any decision before elected officials. They feign shock and surprise when elected officials don't simply accept bogus petitions from anonymous groups as determinative of how the elected officials should vote. The morality that these individuals promote is little more than a herd animal mentality and certainly nothing to praise.
The goal of these individuals is to render large swaths of other people's property uninhabitable and to deprive their neighboring property owners of the same rights and privileges these individuals insist should be preserved for themselves. Nope, I can't see working with them toward that goal at all.
Your list is getting longer every day and your version of "the truth' here is wearing thin.
??? Longer? Three (3) individuals mentioned in a post is a long list? Have you considered therapy?
If you find something untruthful feel free to identify it. Failure to do so undermines your claim.
If your only concern is your own property, the self-centered, short-term goals of you and your nuclear family, then as they say, "Maybe you should get out more."
??? Such a morally superior individual because you promote "giving" so long as the giving is from others to you. Your morally superior buddies have promoted denying their neighbors access to groundwater while insisting upon grandfather clauses for themselves. Morally superior? More like self-dealing hypocrites who lost their credibility.
The People's Republic of Wimberley?
My goodness, whoever you are, you have purt nigh lost your mind, dear.
Time to take a long look in the mirror. Your foibles are showing.
People's Republic of Wimberley is accurate.
...as for "smart, thoughtful, highly-educated, concerned local citizens" most of those are irrelevant and inappropriate adjectives.
Feel free to post the resume including educational background of anyone on "the list". The characterizations are not mitigating factors for their conduct but rather illustrate that these folks should know better.
This anti-intellectual claptrap being promulgated by a noisy group of people who have nothing else to do than try to thwart good sense decision-making about our shared aquifer resources is embarrassing our entire community.
We need good science in order to make good, long-term decisions about how to manage our water resources into an indefinite future.
Along with good science, we need to be making good public policy about how to use the land and whether residential development is the best choice for our area. This isn't communism, this is good planning.
In addition to likely decreasing the influx of population into this area (and Texas in general), more study needs to be put into just which agricultural products can be produced sustainably, considering our water availability.
There is no reason to consider growth as inevitable, nor to consider vineyards as the best way in which to develop our agricultural base.
Just keep in mind: cancer is a "growth" where you do not need it and one that outpaces its host's ability to control it. If it takes over vital functions of the organism, it eventually causes the death of the host. Is this what we want to see in Central Texas?
@ Lilith:
This anti-intellectual claptrap being promulgated by a noisy group of people who have nothing else to do than try to thwart good sense decision-making about our shared aquifer resources is embarrassing our entire community.
Hmmm. So anyone that disagrees with your viewpoint is noisy? Sounds like the People's Republic of Wimberley does not like free speech, individual property rights, etc. Quit trying to extend your "community" beyond your nose. The resources are not "yours".
We need good science in order to make good, long-term decisions about how to manage our water resources into an indefinite future.
The surface water resources are not yours to manage. The creeks and streams do not belong to any property owners. They do not fall within your management agenda. The groundwater belongs to individual property owners. The property of others is not yours to manage.
Along with good science, we need to be making good public policy about how to use the land and whether residential development is the best choice for our area. This isn't communism, this is good planning.
It is communism or communitarianism. The area is not a collective "our" area. Individuals own pieces of it. Their individual ownership is not a "shared" resource. That really galls you doesn't it?
In addition to likely decreasing the influx of population into this area (and Texas in general), more study needs to be put into just which agricultural products can be produced sustainably, considering our water availability.
"Sustainability" is a bogus theory. Nature is a continuous process of change. Face it you are not entitled to keep things "the same".
There is no reason to consider growth as inevitable, nor to consider vineyards as the best way in which to develop our agricultural base.
No doubt your "scientific solution" would be to require people moving here to consent to sterilization while grandfathering yourself from the same. Your "scientific solution" should instead prepare you on how you need to change your lifestyle if the population grows.
Just keep in mind: cancer is a "growth" where you do not need it and one that outpaces its host's ability to control it. If it takes over vital functions of the organism, it eventually causes the death of the host. Is this what we want to see in Central Texas?
The elitist position that you should dictate everyone else's land use and whether they can live here is a cancer. Voting against you is the first step in preventing you and your organizations from taking over vital roles in local government.
I suspect you do not even have your own well, nor do you care about the long-term quantity or quality of the water beneath Hays County.
You speak in abstractions, a sure sign of someone with no vested interest in the topic.
Seems to me you have some sort of bone to pick with your neighbors who care, not only about this shared (yes, SHARED) water resource, but about their neighbors themselves. You know, real people for whom the continued existence of water both beneath their land and in the neighboring streams and springs means quality of life, health and happiness.
Please, take your abstractions somewhere else, we are concerned about real people who live in a real ecological environment that needs common sense protection from overpumping, pollution and outside interests who see our water (yes, I said OUR) as a way to pad their bottom lines.
@ Lilith,
I suspect you do not even have your own well, nor do you care about the long-term quantity or quality of the water beneath Hays County.
Suspect all you want. You are the one trying to prevent others from even being able to have wells.
There is no assurance of quantity and you have no entitlement for "it" to be there, certainly not by denying other property owners access whether they reside here currently or not. You have no entitlement for water to be "sustained" at any particular level whether it is surface water in a creek or groundwater beneath a property owner's property.
If quality was such a concern, then perhaps you should worry about allowing places like Jacobs Well and Blue Hole to be operated as public venues. How about those run-down septic systems on the square and along Cypress Creek? Has the city of Wimberley spent $50,000 to repair that major source of contamination (Blue Hole well) that they want to use to water St Augustine grass over there yet? Why not lobby your city (Wimberley) council to stop using groundwater to fill in Blue Hole? What hypocrites.
You speak in abstractions, a sure sign of someone with no vested interest in the topic.
Hardly. Feel free to identify any such abstraction. On the other hand, you are speaking in meaningless abstract terms such as "community" or even false representations such as "ours". Every property owner has a vested interest in the groundwater and therefore in the topic as a matter of law (see EAA v Day).
Seems to me you have some sort of bone to pick with your neighbors who care, not only about this shared (yes, SHARED) water resource, but about their neighbors themselves. You know, real people for whom the continued existence of water both beneath their land and in the neighboring streams and springs means quality of life, health and happiness.
When obnoxious folks in the area spend all their time trying to figure out how they can deprive other property owners of access to groundwater, I wouldn't consider the obnoxious folks "neighborly" at all - rather a cancer that needs to be corralled or excised.
Please, take your abstractions somewhere else, we are concerned about real people who live in a real ecological environment that needs common sense protection from overpumping, pollution and outside interests who see our water (yes, I said OUR) as a way to pad their bottom lines.
Where's the abstraction? The water still isn't "your water" no matter how many times you claim it to be so and that just grates you. That's no abstraction but rather a cold hard fact. The surface water does not belong to you and you have absolutely no entitlement for it to be there no matter how "concerned" you are. The groundwater belongs to the property owners whether they are residing here or not. Doesn't that get your goat? Still amazed that the law does not bestow you with virtual ownership and control of someone else's property merely because you claim "concern"?
You've spent too much time in the People's Republic of Wimberley. Tell us: how many Jim McMeans petitions did you sign for yourself ... and for other people? Down with the People's Republic of Wimberley!
What are you people so afraid of?
@C'est vrai who said...
What are you people so afraid of?
You confuse "fear" with asserting dominion and control over one's own property.
Just because we told you "get lost" with respect to your attempt to assert dominion and control over the property of others doesn't mean anyone fears you.
Those who promote trespass onto and taking property belonging to others are not necessarily "feared". They are simply another predator to be dealt with.
It means that your agenda is not accepted or respected. Property owners will fearlessly defend their property every time you trespass and try to claim ownership and control of it. Our property is not "yours".
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